Learning the closest Slater determinant

Nisarga Paul; Haimeng Zhao; David D. Dai

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2607.20623

Learning the closest Slater determinant

Nisarga Paul·Haimeng Zhao·David D. Dai

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Learning compact, interpretable descriptions of quantum many-body states is an important task in quantum science. We study the task of learning the Slater determinant with maximum fidelity to an arbitrary fermionic many-body state, with motivation from both Hartree-Fock methods and agnostic tomography. Given an $n$-fermion wavefunction built from $m$ fermionic modes, we provide classical and quantum algorithms returning a Slater determinant with fidelity within $\varepsilon$ of maximal in time $m^{\text{poly}(n,1/\varepsilon)}$. We prove matching hardness lower bounds, assuming standard complexity conjectures, along some parameter axes. Given access to quantum copies, we prove this can be accomplished with $\text{poly}(m,n,1/\varepsilon)$ copies of $\rho$. We also show that above a fidelity of $2/3$ any stationary point is the unique global maximum while below $2/3$ the optimization landscape can have spurious stationary points, and hence $2/3$ marks a transition point in the optimization landscape for this problem. We apply the algorithm to the Fermi-Hubbard model, extracting the closest Slater determinant from neural quantum state solutions. Together, our results provide algorithmic tools with provable guarantees in understanding fermionic many-body systems with classical or quantum simulation.

Explore related subjects

quant-ph cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.str-el

Keep this discovery

BibTeX RIS

Nisarga Paul, Haimeng Zhao, David D. Dai. 2026-07-22. Learning the closest Slater determinant. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20623

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Probing the Error-Mitigation Threshold with Matrix Product States

Quantum error mitigation relies on accurate noise characterization, but mismatches between the actual and characterized noise can be amplified and drive a sharp threshold between successful and failed mitigation. In random circuits, this threshold maps onto a random-field Ising transition, but previous exact numerics were limited to small one-dimensional and all-to-all systems, leaving explicit two-dimensional architectures unresolved. We develop a fixed-bond-dimension matrix-product-state method for the replicated transfer dynamics that extends threshold calculations beyond exact propagation while retaining the finite-size signatures of the transition. At system sizes beyond previous exact studies, we recover the predicted absence of a threshold for quenched disorder in 1D, obtain a sharper annealed all-to-all critical point, and resolve architecture-dependent finite-depth thresholds in 2D square and heavy-hex circuits. These results establish replicated tensor-network dynamics as a practical tool for probing error-mitigation thresholds in large and higher-dimensional noisy circuits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Low-cost algorithm-to-execution framework for surface-code quantum computing

The execution of useful quantum algorithms on fault-tolerant processors requires more than a mapping from logical gates to encoded operations: the spatial organization, non-Clifford resource supply, and execution schedule must also be determined while keeping physical overhead within practical limits. Although the theoretical hierarchy from logical circuits to fault-tolerant operations is well established, these implementation choices are often specified and optimized separately. Here we develop a low-cost algorithm-to-execution framework for surface-code quantum computing. From hierarchical algorithm descriptions, it constructs dependency-preserving logical schedules and an executable workload capturing logical interactions, operation parallelism, and time-resolved non-Clifford demand, thereby linking logical computation to surface-code organization, resource-state preparation, and fault-tolerant execution in a traceable workflow. We apply the framework to twenty benchmark circuits across seven algorithm families and a hierarchically composed application-scale elliptic-curve discrete-logarithm workload. Physical costs vary substantially even for circuits with similar logical resource counts. Under our direct-rotation calibration, non-Clifford implementation selection reduces space-time volume by up to 241.5 times versus an all-synthesis baseline for the QAOA amplitude-amplification workload. Circuit-specific surface-code layouts reduce routed-latency estimates for all twenty benchmarks; thirteen also reduce space-time volume because communication savings outweigh added spatial overhead. These results show that low-cost fault-tolerant execution depends on computation scheduling and organization, not aggregate logical resource counts alone.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Sample-optimal learning of stabilizer states

It is well-known that learning a pure $n$-qubit stabilizer state $|\psi\rangle$ both requires, and can be accomplished with, access to a number of copies of $|\psi\rangle$ linear in $n$. However, the precise constant coefficient of this scaling does not appear to have been determined. Here we prove that $L_\delta(n)$, the smallest number of copies from which a quantum procedure can identify any stabilizer state with failure probability at most $0<\delta<1/8$, satisfies $n+\lceil\log_2(1/\delta)\rceil-3\leq L_\delta(n)\leq n+\left\lceil\log_2(1/\delta)\right\rceil+4$. We present a polynomial-time quantum learning algorithm that saturates this bound, achieving a constant factor improvement in sample-complexity over previously known approaches. As an immediate corollary, we obtain via the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism an algorithm for learning an unknown $n$-qubit Clifford unitary from $2n+\left\lceil\log_2(1/\delta)\right\rceil+4$ queries, the $n$-dependence of which we show to be optimal. Our proof technique, which involves Fourier analysis on the abelian group $\mathbb{Z}_4^n \times \mathbb{F}_2^{n(n-1)/2}$, seems to be qualitatively different to previous approaches to stabilizer state learning, and may be of some independent interest; in particular, it admits natural generalisations to further problems in quantum learning theory.

quant-ph↗